Chapter 9

Pearl sat in the office and waited, played a game on her phone, checked a few emails, talked to a couple friends, caught up with the news. When she looked up again, hours later, Gideon strode to her, frowning.

She asked, "How did that go?"

He shook his head. "She didn't show up."

"I thought Jasper told me that she'd been picked up?"

"She was, and then apparently they took her to her house to get something, and she slipped right out from under their noses. So she's on the run now," he shared, with a concerned look. "I'm not exactly sure where she would go or why, but I have a suspicion worth checking out. Do you want to come?"

"Sure." Pearl hopped to her feet. "So, does it seem weird that she was allowed out like that?"

"Not necessarily, since she was being picked up for questioning, not being charged, so maybe the officer misunderstood."

"Maybe," she murmured. "Just her luck too. She also spins tales, which makes everybody question why they doubt her sometimes," she pointed out, with a small smile.

"The MP didn't have any reason for her not to go to her house and get something. Then, while he was waiting for her, she ducked out the back."

"So now there's a real search for her, I suppose?"

"There is, but don't worry. We'll find her."

"You think you might know where she is?"

"I do. Come on. Let's go." With her racing alongside him, they got to his vehicle and hopped in. "You didn't talk to her much, did you?" Gideon asked Pearl.

"No, I can't stand the woman, didn't have anything to do with her, tried to schedule my shifts so that I didn't have to deal with her. It was hard enough just dealing with the gossip and the lies she spread about me, though it wasn't all the time. It was as if she would go on these fits and starts about it," she murmured. "Some days she was fine, and then other days it was just like parts exploding."

"That's a good way to look at it," he said, with a laugh, "not that anybody wants to deal with exploding parts."

"No, but, more often than not, we don't realize just what we're dealing with, except it's born of jealousy, rage, or something." As they drove along, she looked around and asked, "We're heading to the beach?"

"Yes, apparently she mentioned something about planning to be at the beach."

"Sure, but, if she had planned to be there, that doesn't mean she was still going there," Pearl replied. "That would make no sense, if you knew you had to go in and be questioned."

"Unless she didn't want to be questioned and went to the beach in order to fantasize about all she was doing."

"That just sounds off the rocker," Pearl muttered.

As they got closer, he pointed to a woman sitting off to the side on the rocks. "Would that be her?" he asked.

Pearl frowned. "It could be. I can't see her clearly enough from here."

"We'll get closer, don't worry." He parked, and they got out, then slowly walked in the direction of the woman.

When they got closer, Pearl sucked in her breath and nodded. "Oh my God, you're right. It is her."

"Good," he said, with a satisfied smile. He quickly sent off a text.

Pearl stared intently at Betty. "Surely we won't arrest her right now."

"You have a problem with that?"

She winced. "She already blames me for everything."

"Then it doesn't matter, does it? Look. Betty's made your life miserable, so I have absolutely no problem making hers a little miserable too."

"Oh, but she can't handle this," Pearl protested.

Moments later they stood before Betty.

Betty looked up and frowned. "Wow, look at that," she muttered in a strident tone. "When did you get back together? Did you seduce him again?"

Pearl winced at the loathing in Betty's tone. "I didn't know why you had been on my case since forever, but now I presume it has something to do with Gideon here. Yet whatever is between me and Gideon has nothing to do with you."

"He shouldn't be with you at all," Betty declared in a bitter tone.

"Who is it you think he should be with?" Pearl asked, suddenly fascinated and wondering just how far gone this woman was and if she was delusional enough to have created a relationship, even though she didn't know Gideon.

Betty sniffed. "He knows perfectly well."

Gideon stared at her. "I met you once, and I believe you stole a photo out of my wallet."

She stared at him in shock. "How dare you accuse me of stealing?" she cried out, as she got to her feet and turned to glare at him.

"The photo of me and him," Pearl pointed out, "the one that you flaunt to everybody else."

Betty paled and shook her head. "I don't know anything about it."

"Soon enough you'll be searched and your house as well," Gideon shared comfortably. "We don't particularly care whether you come back to the office with us right now or not. It is your full right to experience the whole on the run existence, if that's what you're going for," he murmured. "Or you can come in and talk to us."

"I'm not going anywhere with her," Betty spat.

"You have nothing to blackmail me with, unlike the lieutenant," Pearl noted. She stared at Betty, seeing something beyond what appeared to be a broken mind, and yet she looked so real on the outside.

"Blackmail?" Betty repeated. "God, I wish I had something I could blackmail you about, but you're such a Goody Two-Shoes. It seems you never do anything wrong. Do you know how sick I am of listening to the office defend you? Constantly telling me what a good person you are and that I should get along with you?" She snorted at that. "I have no intention of getting along with you. Some things are unforgivable."

"What did I do that was so unforgivable?"

Betty glared at her. "You know perfectly well."

Pearl tossed her head and smiled in Gideon's direction. "You mean, going out with Gideon, the man I love?"

Betty stiffened. "He would have to be completely out of his mind to choose you," she cried out. "Absolutely no reason why he would prefer you to me."

Gideon immediately stepped up and spoke. "I don't know you, but I have known Pearl for many, many years. She and I had a very good long-term relationship, but you? You are some stranger," he said, shaking his head. "I don't understand how you think you have a possibility of a relationship with me." He stared at Betty in amazement. "Did you just find the photo, see me, and decide that I am the one for you? You wanted something that wasn't available, so you created it? You wanted me, even if I didn't want you? Even if I didn't know you existed?"

Betty frowned at him. "Don't say mean things to me," she whispered, her bottom lip trembling. "You didn't even give me a chance. I'm way nicer than this bitch beside you," she said, snarling in Pearl's direction.

At that, Gideon shook his head. "I couldn't go out with anybody who treats other people like you did Pearl," he said. "That goes against everything in my world. So, if that's what you were thinking you could orchestrate, you're wrong. It can't happen."

"Of course it can," Betty declared, staring at him. "You just have to let her go."

"Let her go?" he asked. "It's that simple to you? Even if I did let her go, what good would that do?"

"You don't understand. We could be so good together, and I knew that once you met me,… you would see that. You just had to meet me."

"Yet I did meet you," he said. "I don't want you."

"But you just met me for a second, so you don't really know me yet," she argued, with a crooked smile in his direction. "When I realized that you went out with her , I realized that she had ruined something for you because you're so perfect." Betty gave him a look of admiration. "I just knew that, if we could have the right moment together, you would see exactly how good we could be. The fact that you couldn't see that is all because of her. She ruined you for seeing how good life can be and how much I have to offer."

Gideon stared at Betty as if she were out of her mind.

"Just spend some time with me, and I'll show you how good it can be." When Gideon stared at her with a look that even Pearl didn't recognize, Betty shook her head. Turning to glare at Pearl, Betty shouted, "It's your fault, you sorry bitch! He would see it but for you. You ruined him, and now I'm left to fix it."

Just then several other vehicles arrived, and she looked back with a smug expression and sighed. "Oh, how sad," she muttered, turning to look at Pearl. "Finally my complaints are being listened to."

Pearl stared at her, then looked back to see Jasper walking toward them. "I don't think they're coming for me, Betty."

"Of course they are," Betty declared, with a wave of her hand.

"I don't think they look kindly on your blackmail and harassment," Pearl murmured.

"I didn't blackmail anybody," Betty declared, eyeing Pearl in shock. "Why would I? Everybody loves me."

"Everybody doesn't love you," Gideon said in a hard tone, "particularly Lieutenant Hollick."

She sniffed at that. "He's disgusting, and no way he should be allowed to have any authority. The things I could tell you about him—"

"We already know."

"I took care of that too," she shared. "I took care of his case, and it looks like I'll have to take care of even more." She raised both hands. "Why can't people just be decent, and then I wouldn't have to work so hard?"

Just then Jasper reached them, his gaze curious as he looked from one to the other. "Everybody having a nice friendly visit?"

"No," Betty snapped, pointing at Pearl. "Thank goodness you're finally here. You need to arrest her."

"Yeah? What for?" he asked curiously.

"She has ruined this man's life," she declared, throwing her arms out wide in an incredibly dramatic gesture, as she pointed at Gideon. "He has suffered terribly all these years. She's just ruined him."

"Is that why you went to her house and left the package on the porch?"

"Oh that." Betty gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "She just needed to know that's what she is."

"And what is that exactly?" Pearl asked.

"A piece of shit, nothing but human waste, get it?" she asked, with a triumphant smile. "You have ruined the last person you'll be allowed to ruin."

"I see, and what will you do about it?"

"I don't have to do anything now, since I've finally gotten the police to listen to me," she stated, with an eye roll. "It will be easy enough to deal with your being gone at work. It's not as if you do much of anything anyway."

"Of course not, after all, you're the one who does it all, right? You handle all the patients, write up all the reports, and somehow still find time to blackmail your boss."

"I didn't blackmail him because he's my boss," she snapped. "He's a pathetic excuse of a man who doesn't deserve to live. The things he's been up to?… It's just disgusting," she declared, with a dramatic shudder. "Do you know what he does? Somebody should have stopped him a long time ago."

"Somebody like you, I presume?" Jasper asked.

"If it takes somebody like me, then, yes, of course," she confirmed. "Somebody must make the sacrifice, after all. It's just too perverse to even think about." And then, with a brilliant smile at Jasper, she added, "So, go ahead and arrest her."

"No, I most certainly will not," he stated, giving Betty a harsh stare. "Pearl hasn't done anything wrong. But you, on the other hand, that's a whole different story."

She walked closer to him, then stopped at his words. "But that's not fair. She deserves to be put away."

"Does she?" Jasper asked. "I don't think so. I think that, in your own mind, you created a relationship with this man, despite the fact that he doesn't even know who you are."

"Yes, he does. Don't be ridiculous," Betty said. "I'm the one who returned his wallet."

"You returned his wallet and liked what you saw, so you created this relationship out of nothing," Jasper explained. "He doesn't even know you or anything about you."

"But he would, just as soon as he spent some time with me. He would fall head over heels. I just know it." Still protesting and explaining her point, Betty was led to a vehicle and placed inside. They could still hear her chattering away in the back seat.

Jasper returned to the two of them, shaking his head. "I'm not sure she's all there."

"She's not," Pearl agreed. "Looking back, I think it's been a slow decline over the years."

Gideon smiled. "And you're still a nice person, even after all that?"

She shrugged. "Betty has hated me because she had a fixation with Gideon, the man I walked away from. I guess I shouldn't hold that against her. But the blackmail of the lieutenant? That's a whole different story. And his position against me? That's something I find hard to let go of," she shared.

"Not to worry," Jasper murmured. "All of this will come out in the wash."

"The lieutenant too?" she asked.

Jasper nodded. "No way to keep something like this private, not when it's gone this far."

She winced. "I feel sorry for him. I can understand why he was keeping it all quiet."

"Please don't protect him," Jasper stated firmly. "It's not your job, and he needs to face the music for his actions, just like everybody else in this mess." And, with that, he turned and walked away, getting into the vehicle and driving away, Betty still spouting off in the back seat.

Pearl turned to Gideon and repeated, "Human debris, huh , human refuse?"

"Yes, apparently that's what you are." Then he gave a brilliant laugh, wrapped her up in his arms, and said, "Now the good news is, we can mark her as not involved in the Mason case."

"And that just means"—Pearl frowned, as she tilted to look up at him—"somebody apart from Betty and her nonsense had another reason for breaking into my house. Plus, we had a different intruder in your house. Were the two intruders linked? Regardless, each one was playing some game."

"That's the problem. I can't believe that the decision to use your house was random. That intruder intended to squat there, I guess, and that just doesn't make any sense to me. Then somebody else already had the keys to my house—for however long, we don't know yet—and then trespassed on my personal property."

"We didn't ask where Betty found your wallet."

He nodded. "At one point in time, a jacket of mine was stolen, and my wallet and keys were in there. I have been using the spare keys ever since. I figured someone wanted a warm coat and wouldn't know which house the keys went to. However, now?… Maybe that's where my particular intruder got my house key from."

"We need to go talk to Betty again," Pearl said, as she headed to Gideon's vehicle. "Because what if she and your intruder were working together? Someone found your jacket, and what are the odds that Betty got your wallet, while your intruder got your keys?"

"Yep." Gideon sighed. "I'll get Jasper to ask her."

"Where was your wallet found, according to Betty?"

"She supposedly found it on the sidewalk outside my home," he replied, "but I'm not sure. I'm not sure at all, as my jacket and keys never showed up. It's never that simple."

"No, and I'm not sure either. As for the keys, it is much more likely that it was a previous owner of your house or something else along those lines."

"And that could be too, except I replaced the locks when I moved in."

She frowned. "So, how about the guy who changed the locks?"

"Or somebody who worked for that company? Or, hell, any person on base could pull that off."

"Right." She nodded. "These skills are way too easily found right here."

"They are," he murmured. "It could just simply be that some petty thief wandered into my house, but why? That's the question. Why? Normally low-level criminals don't intentionally enter a house that is occupied. They aren't interested in committing federal crimes. So they scout out their targets. If someone had been watching my house lately, they would already know that you were inside." He sighed.

"That's one of the hardest parts of the work that I do. You never know who's after you, or who might not like what you're investigating," he shared. "I thought it would be safe for you to stay with me, but now I'm wondering if I've put you in even more danger."

She snorted. "I don't know how you figure that, considering that both my place and yours have been crime scenes. Why don't we use one or the other and set a trap somehow, so maybe we can get to the bottom of some of this?"

He laughed. "That is a damn good idea. For now, let's head back home to my place, since the locks have been changed, and we have the security system ramped up. We can get some dinner and maybe have a quiet evening to ourselves."

"I'm all for that. It's been nothing but chaos ever since we ran into each other again. What about my house?" she asked, turning to him as they got into his vehicle. "When will I be allowed back over there?"

"I don't know, but I can ask. It's a different story there because, at my house, it was just an intruder, but at your house,… someone died."

*

Gideon set out dinner on the table, hoping that everything would stay quiet and calm, so they would have an evening to relax. Pearl was still with him, and, as far as he could tell, she was relaxed and comfortable in his presence and in his house. She was right about one thing. He had intentionally bought the house that they had often imagined and had talked about. It wasn't a particular house but a style of house, one they had set out together as being exactly what they wanted. He bought it soon after they had split up. He hadn't been prepared to let go of it, even years later when she remained gone. His reasons for wanting that house still remained, and he wouldn't give them up.

She smiled when she saw the spaghetti. "You always did make a mean spaghetti."

"I like to think so." He smiled as he sat down across from her, eyeing her and her plate. "Go ahead and eat up."

She nodded, picked up her fork and looked over at him. "What will you do now?"

"With any luck, we'll have a little bit of downtime this evening," he said, with a smirk, "before I get called out."

"Will you get called out?" she asked, staring at him in astonishment. "Don't you get time off?"

"No, not right now," he said, with a shrug. "Not with Mason still in the hospital and his case unsolved."

She winced at that. "I keep forgetting that's what started all this."

"I don't know that it started it all, but it's definitely the prime reason for me being added to the investigation team," he reminded her. "We just keep getting sidetracked with other problems—that may or may not turn out to be related."

"Right, who would have thought that Betty would have had anything to do with Mason being shot?"

"I'm not sure she does. It may just be that her drama happened to escalate at the wrong time."

Pearl nodded at that. "That does seem more probable in her case. When you think about it, how much of this nonsense can somebody stir up and get away with like Betty has?" she muttered. "It always amazes me, but blackmail does make complete and total sense. I still feel sorry for Grant."

"This wasn't something you did. Just remember that. You can feel all the empathy you want, but Grant still chose his actions and ultimately will be held accountable."

"I just don't want him to suffer too badly."

Gideon snorted, shaking his head.

She waved her hand. "No, I'm not na?ve or innocent, or even a super nice person," she explained. "It's just that he's already suffered quite a bit. Now he'll suffer even more. Yet he knows what he did, and he'll have to face the music."

"In more ways than one. His wife was down at the office today, and I guess they had a difficult discussion."

"No matter how a partner looks at it, a fling is a fling. This situation would be all the harder since it was a past lover and one of the same sex," she noted.

"Yeah, that alone must be tough, if you're the wife."

"I certainly don't understand all of what's going on in their world, and it's not for us or for me to even get involved in it," she said, "but I can sympathize because he obviously hasn't truly made peace with himself."

Gideon nodded at that. "I won't argue with you on that one, but again, he was making his own decisions, right or wrong. He's also the one who opened himself up to blackmail and, worse, then allowed it to impact other people."

Pearl frowned. "Right. I can't help but wonder if Betty's done that with anybody else."

"I don't think so, but it's possible. The team is considering that angle as well. I think Grant's homosexuality was something completely against Betty's moral code. Whether she blackmailed Grant in the traditional sense or simply pressured him to secure her employment, I don't know."

"Right, I guess it's not blackmail if you're not getting money for it," Pearl noted in a dry tone.

"No, but she was certainly getting financial compensation in that she kept her job, when she was well past the point of doing her job," Gideon explained. "So it's still blackmail, just not for the cash payout we typically imagine."

"With a lot of people, the payout would have been much higher."

"Exactly. Still, the brass are not happy that Grant left himself open to any blackmail because somebody's always out there, willing to take advantage of our military's secrets. By doing what Grant did, and others finding out about it, he became an easy target. That is frowned on in the military, particularly within the higher ranks, because we can't risk having our high-ranking officers compromised in any way, either domestically or internationally."

"Yet none of us are perfect," she pointed out.

"Maybe that's why you're sympathetic to him," Gideon noted.

She winced and then shrugged. "You could be right about that. I hadn't looked at it from that point of view, and I'm not sure I want to either."

"You don't have to, and you don't need to feel anything other than detachment because it was Grant's life and his choices, not yours. And you were the injured party here. Remember that as well."

She smiled. "I have a hunch it's not always quite so easy for you to detach either."

"Lots of times it isn't," he admitted, "but not this time, because somebody else was getting hurt,… namely you. I also find it much easier to let Grant take full responsibility because, while Betty was right in the middle of it, his own actions left him vulnerable. And he could have just owned his truth and all its consequences and stopped the blackmail from ever happening to begin with."

Pearl didn't say anything to that. When his phone rang a little later, she looked down at it and teased, "You almost got a full meal uninterrupted."

He sighed, picked up his phone, and said, "Hey, Jasper. What's up?"

"We got an ID on the man who broke into your house."

Immediately he straightened up and glanced at her. "Who is it then? How did you get an ID on him anyway? I thought we had nothing."

"We got his ID because he wound up in the morgue."

"Ah, hell no," he muttered, rubbing his forehead. "Somebody took him out?"

"Looks like it. He took one bullet to the center of the forehead."

"Crap, a professional hit, which means it was probably related to Mason somehow, though I don't understand why."

"No, I don't either. By the way, he's well known for breaking into houses, getting keys made, or whatever is needed in our world. Apparently that's his specialty, so he may not have had anything to do with you before."

"His specialty, huh ?"

"Yeah, a nice distinction right there."

"That makes more sense to me," Gideon shared. "Though it still doesn't explain why I was targeted."

"It could just be because you're part of the Mason investigation. That could be reason enough," Jasper offered.

"Swede got my locks changed, and our dead intruder obviously got inside my house, but for what purpose? What is going on here? Why do you think they took him out?"

Pearl responded immediately, "Because he failed."

Jasper laughed. "I think she's right," he replied, still a hint of a smile in his tone. "It could very well be as simple as that."

"Yet did he fail? He got inside my house."

"He did, but Pearl was there. And I can't imagine a pro like your intruder did not already know Pearl was there. Plus, he headed for the stairs immediately, from what Pearl told me. My first guess would be that he was supposed to kidnap Pearl, as a way to control you, Gideon. Regardless of his true purpose for entering your home, your intruder was caught on your security cameras, and I suspect that's a good-enough reason for them to eliminate him."

"It's very much a permanent game they're playing, isn't it?" Gideon noted, turning to Pearl, who was moving the last bits of spaghetti around on her plate. Clearly she was finished, though he was unsure if it was due to the conversation or that she'd just had enough to eat.

Gideon got up, still talking to Jasper. "What do you need from me?"

"I've got Tesla digging more into your intruder, now that we have a name. Oh, and the coroner did note the guy had two legs of differing lengths, plus a surgical scar at his back, probably from a ruptured disk or something. That matches Pearl's remarks about your intruder suffering from injuries and possibly pain. Yet, so far, Tesla's not finding a whole lot more on your intruder. It's frustrating her, which I don't like because I don't want her upset, not when she's already got enough on her plate. The stress can't be good for the baby either."

"No, of course not," Gideon agreed, concern in his tone. "Do you want me to come down to the office? You can have Tesla hand off that deep dive to me."

"I'm already at the office, working on it right now," Jasper shared.

"I can head down there and help," Gideon offered, with a finality in his tone.

"For the moment, you're probably better off staying there, with Pearl, but I can send you some information to work on. We've also picked up your intruder's vehicle. It's probably wiped clean, but we will still take a good look."

"Oh, good. Send the file of what you've got so far. I'll start a review on that." And, with that, he ended the call.

"Are you leaving?" Pearl asked.

He turned, hearing something odd in her tone, then smiled. "No, Jasper will email me some stuff to work on here." He watched the relief take over her expression, and he nodded. "The intruder who broke into my house turned up in the morgue," he stated simply. "They have an ID for him, and they found the vehicle he was in as well."

"The morgue?" she winced. "What will you do?"

"I'll trace the vehicle, check the traffic cameras, and see if we can pick up any leads from that."

"Oh, good." She stared at him in amazement. "It sounds like things are starting to move."

"I would like to think so," he said, "but the thing is, every time another bad guy gets involved in this case, they are soon dead."

She winced. "It seems so deliberate."

"It is when the dead bodies are found pretty quickly. I don't know what the deal is yet, but I do know that any break we get right now is one we need to jump on fast because this has been going on for way too long."

"It hasn't helped that you've been sidetracked by things that didn't need to be a distraction. Betty, for instance."

He hesitated, yet shrugged. "I won't disagree, but I'm not at all upset with the way things have worked out."

She chuckled. "Is that a nice roundabout way of saying you're not unhappy that I'm here?"

"No, I'm definitely not unhappy about that," he declared, grinning at her. "But right now, I'll clean this up, and then I'll get to work."

"No," she said, standing up. "You cooked, so I'll clean up. It's only fair. You go get started in your office. I'll take care of this and will bring you a coffee in a bit." With that, she turned him around and pushed him from the room. "Go on. We have Mason at the hospital still, and we need to confirm he's safe before he wakes up. That way he knows he can recover without all that worry on him."

Gideon chuckled. "You'll get along well with Tesla."

"Maybe. I could use some new friends. It seems as if I've lost everybody over these last few years."

"That just means it's time to add some new people to your world," he declared. "We'll work on it once we get this case wrapped up." And, with that, he turned and headed into his office.

*

When his phone rang, Pearl expected Gideon to be called out to some emergency. He took the call, but she never heard him leave. Frowning, she made him the promised coffee and took it to him. He was still on the phone and clearly agitated. When the call ended, he sighed, taking deep breaths.

"What happened?" Pearl asked.

"Sebastian was visiting his mom and dad—Mason and Tesla—at the hospital. He had stepped outside with a nurse to go get a cold drink, when a man dressed in a doctor's white lab coat tried to take him. Luckily the nurse was on the ball and didn't recognize the so-called doctor and yelled for an orderly. We also had two guards on our special patients, and one of them left his post to thwart the kidnapping. Still, our bad guy got away. But it's always better to save the victim, even if the perpetrator gets away. We'll get him later. I can promise you that."

"Oh my God. These people are evil."

"We'll double up the guards on Sebastian, no matter where he is, although he is staying with Tesla's dad for the time being. We will also keep him from visiting the hospital again. We can't have Mason's immediate family all in one room. It's too dangerous."